Control card blank



App'lmZ, 1940. H. o. GEORGE Er Al.

CQNTROL CARD BLANK Filed Deo. l, `1936 2 Sheets-.Sheet 1 FIG.Z

FIG.5

a INVENTOR.

ATTORNEY.

April 2, 1940.

H. o. GEoRGE Er A1.

QoNTRoL. CARD BLANK 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 1, 1936 FIG.9

ha a olonne l I l 10| ll l l 11111111011 Bill 99S FIG. IO

FIGJI /5 v NVENTOR.

l Patented Apr. 2, 1940 vUNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CONTROL CARD BLANK Harry 0. George, Vestal, and Thomas R. Skofteland, Endicott, N. Y., assignors to International Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation oi' New York Application December 1,` 1936, Serial No. 113,562

'Ihis invention relates to 1 Claim.

control cards for statistical machines and various types of calculating machines, such as Vtabulating and record sorting machines,

Records containing data in the form of perforations are run through the machines and the machines are caused to perform certain operations such as the-sorting of the records, or

the printing or accumulati ng of data contained on the records. The location of perforations arranged in columns or otherwise determines the Value of the perforations and the machines are controlled in accordance with the location of the perforations.

Records for use in such machines must be carefully prepared So that the perforations are accurately locatedand the stock from whichV the records are made must be of unusually high grade in order that the control of the records upon slot which is wider than the thickness of one card but narrower than the -thickness of two cards together so that only one card at altime can be fed therethrough.

Also, the stock from which the cards are `made must be such that the effects of atmospheric conditions are minimized. Inother Words, the dampness of the atmosphere must not cause the cards to swell or become soft along their edges and thu s cause the cards to stick in the throat or -be'come mutilated -by either the throat.- or the feed picker.

Also, the stock from which the cards are made must be durable so that the 'damaging of the edges of the cards, by the card feed mechanisms, etc., is' reduced to a minimum. Slight defects in the edges thereof will often result in crumpling of the cards and consequent stoppage of the machine during the transition of the cards from the stack to another position. Also, the stock must be such that it,

will not warp in varying atmospheric conditions.

The stock must also be of cards can be handled and such quality that the fed through the Amachines a large number of times Without being destroyed or so mutilated as to fail to feed properly in the machines.

In the Patent N0. 2,041,880, dated May 26, 1936, I

a method for making these cards is disclosed and comprises pasting two or more sheets of paper together so as to produce cards'that are so balanced that atmospheric in thereon.

uences have no effects A method commonly employed for sensing the perforations comprises running the cards between a row of electric brushes onvone side, and an electric' contact plate or roller on the other. 'I'he brushes usually comprise strands of fine wire 5 and a separate brush is associated with each column on.- the record card. Sensing takes place While the card is in motion. As the card passes under the brushes, Wherever a perforation appears in one of the columns, the brush associated with that column lwill reachy through the perfo. ration and engage the contact plate on the other side, thus closing a control electric circuit through a 4magnet or relay to control the operation of the machine. The location of the perforation in the column represents the value of the entry and also determines the time `in the card feeding cycle at which the circuit is closed, and the time at which the circuit is closed determines the control upon the machine.Y In other words, it determines the value to be added in the accumulating devices or to be printed upon a report sheet.

In the manufacturing of paper, minute parti- 'cles of foreign substances in the raw materials 25 nd their way into the surface of the paper stock are what are called conducting specks, These I specks may be minute particles of carbon or coal dust, or metallic or other substances which are capable of acting as conductors for electric current. When the specks reach from one surface of the record card to the other, the electric brus-hes engaging the surfaces of the card Wipe over the specks which also engage the contact plate on the opposite side and this causes closure.

of .the control circuit in the same manner as where the brush reaches through a perforation 40.I and engages the contact plate. Thus, a carbon speck in the cards Will cause an incorrect entry A to be-made in the machine.

Other foreign. substances which find their way into the paper. making .material produce what are termed slime spots. These spots which, xWhile they may not act as conductors of electric current, form weak spots in thecards s o that the electric brushes Vin rubbing over the surfaces of the cards, open perforations through the cards and thus effect wrong entries in the record which thereafter produce incorrect operations of the machines.

An object of the present invention is to produce a record card in lwhich defective spots will u ents.

"i so have no effect upon the operation of the machines. One method of making such cards is shown in Patent No. 2,041,881.

Another object of the invention is to produce a multi-ply pasted control card with one or both edges more durable than the usual slitter cut edge card described in the aforementioned pat- Such cards may be produced by slitting the paper to be pasted into strips twice the desired width of the control card and folding in such a manner that the cut edges meet along the central portion of the card, The long edges of the finished card have no cut edges since they are formed by the folds in the paper. In this manner, smooth edges difficult to fray are thus produced.

Cards may be produced by the following methods involving this principle:

1. With two folds forming the long edges and the cut edges of the original paper stock meeting along the central section of the card.

v (a) The cut edges may form a straight line along a longitudinal line of the card.

(b) The out edges may be indented either in a symmetrical or unsymmetrical manner, and formed so as to correspond, which may be fitted or locked together, and not form a line of weaknessalong the longitudinal line of the card.

2. With one fold forming one long edge of the card and the cut edges of the paper meeting at Vthe other long edge.

3. With a coreof inexpensive paper, enclosed in a sheath made of a higher quality of paper folded in the manner described in (l) The finished card made in this manner would be three ply with both long edges formed from folds in the outer sheath of paper.

The advantages of this type of card construction are, briefly, more durable edges, possibility of using cheaper paper, freedom from conducting particles extending completelythrough the card, and uniformity of thetwo surfaces providing free# dom from warping tendencies.

Various. other objects and advantages of the invention will be obvious from the following par ticular description of one form of mechanism embodying the invention or from an inspection of the accompanying drawings; and the invention also constitutes certain new and useful features of construction and combination of parts hereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the drawings: Fig. 1 is apla'nview of a strip of paper from which the `cards may formed. Fig. 2 is a view to show how areformed.

Fig. 3 is a view illustrating one form of Jfinished record card printed and punched, ready to use to the folded edges control the operations of statistical machines.

Figs. 4, 5 and 8 illustrate other forms of record cards embodyingthe principle of the presentinvention. I Figs. 6 and `7illustrate still another .form of recordcard formed by using .-a core and outer sheath of paper. I

Fig'. 9 illustrates a'finished record card of the typev well known at present, printed and punchedfor use andillustratlng carbon specks and slime v spots.

Fig. 10 is a section l view of a type of card feed.- ing mechanism.` l Fig. 11 illustrates a'con'trol vcard being sensed in a calculating machine, v

In Fig. 1 Vthe card stock I is shown and lcom prises a sheet of paper, the width (a) of which is cordance withthe present invention, the specks twice the width of a control card to be formed.

the paper are completely folded over so that the 10 cut edges 2 and l meet the integral sections there- 'of are glued together. The cut edges meet along a longitudinal line of the control card indicated as 1 in Fig. 3 which in the figure as shown is not a straight line. The juncture or line where the 15 edges are Joinedor united is irregular so as not to produce a line of weakness along the longitudinal line of union. The juncture as shown may be effected along the central line of the card or along any desired line along one side of the card. Also the edges as shown are formed symmetrically; however, it is not desired to be limited to this identical formation, for it is obvious that the edges can be cut in unsymmetrical formations or indentures. Fig. 3 shows a complete card 8 with .5

control perforations 9 located in the various columns at .different index point positions to represent A different values. These perforations serve to controll the operation of the calculating or other machines.

Referring to Fig. l0, reference numeral Il designates a stack of perforated control cards III-a as shown in Fig. 9, from which the cards are picked off one by one by the usual card pickerv II which feeds a card through thethroat I2 to the transport rolls I3. 'I'he picker II is moved or positioned to and fro in the usual way by means of a lever I4 pivoted upon shaft I5 and moved through connecting link I6 by a disk I1 which is operated by suitable means, such as a 40 motor (not shown).

As the control card passes between the sensingA brush I8 and the-contact roller I9 (also see Fig. 11),*it will readily be seen that when one of the perforations 20 passes between the brush and contact roller, a circuit will be closed through the source 2I and operating magnet or relay 22. The energization of the said magnet will control the operation of the 'machine according to the location of the perforation, in a manner well known and as disclosed in Patent No. 1,976,617.

Itk will-readily be seen that if a speck of carbon dust 23 (Fig. 9) is embedded in the control card andexposed `at both surfaces thereof, the brush I8 .will contact the speck on the upper Asurface while the roller I9 will contact it on the lowerv surface and the operating circuit rwill be closed through the magnet 22. If the carbon speck is located, as shown in Fig. 9, somewhere between the index point positions ve and six, the machine will be caused to accumulate the value flve or six and alsowouldbe the cause to print one or the yother of these erroneous values.

When the cardis made 'up as described in ac-v 05 such as shown at 2 3'may appear'on one side of thev control card but will be covered over b y the other" side ofthecard and thus be prevented from servingasfconductors between the .brush Il and A sume spot is indicated fat' zfa (Fig. v9) at the index position representing thevalue one. It'will f readily'be lseen that as the controlv card is passing under the-brush I8 this weakened spot is likely to loosenand eventually form a hole through the 15 cof card after a number of passages through the machine, so that thereafter the brush I8 will form a contact at this point and cause erroneous operation of the machine.

j At a faint speck is indicated to represent a conducting particle covered by pulp fibres. On passing through a testing machine having a row of sensing brushes similar to brush I8 the speck will not be detected due to the layers of pulp fibres. Paper stock having these hidden specks will thus eventually find their way into the statistical machines as control cards and the brushes I8 in such machines will eventually scrape the pulp fibres o the hidden speck and thereafter close the control circuit between the brushes I8 and contact roller I9 to bring about energization of the control magnet 22.

It will be seen that by glueing the sections of the paper stock I together as described in conjunction With Figs. 2 and 3 to produce the completed control card 8, all of the mentioned defective spots are rendered harmless and ineffective. Also, it will be seen that the edges 4 and 5 formed by the folds of the paper stock I will produce more durable edges than the slit or cut edges on the control cards used at present, so as not to be effected by the numerous passages through the machine.

In Fig. 4 it is shown that in some cases the edges 26 and 21 of the paper stock 2d may be cut in a straight line and folded so that the long edges of the cards are formed by the folded portions of the paper stock and pasted together by the adhesive 29 to produce the completed card 30 as shown in Fig. 5. In Fig. 8 only one edge 3| is formed by the folded portions of the paper stock 32, In Figs. 6 and l an inner core or strip of paper stock 33 may be pasted to a portion of the paper stock 35 comprising a vsheath which may be made of a higher quality of paper, the edges 31 and 38 of which may be cut as described hereinbefore, and folded in the manner in 'accordance with the principles of the present invention to form a multi-ply control card comprising at least three plies and one in which the long edges are formed from folds in the outer sheath of paper. 'I'hus it is seen that in all the examples set forth,

smooth, uncut edges for control cards may be formed and .which have been found to be more durable and more diiiicult to fray, in this manner, imparting longer life to the control cards, making it possible to use cheaper grades of paper, creating freedom from foreign or conducting particles, and uniformity of the two formed surfaces.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single modification, it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its operation may be made by those skilled in.the art without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claim.

What is claimed is as follows:

A control card blank for use in record card controlled statistical machines comprising a sheet of imperforate material having serrated edges, said sheet being folded in along two lines disposed parallel to one another to form a card of uniform thicknessl the longitudinal edges of said card being formed by the folds of the sheet, and the said serrated edges of the sheet when folded in and secured interlacing one another on one side of the said card.

HARRY O. GEORGE. THOMAS R. SKOFTELAND 

